Fall 2010 - 60825 - PA680PA - Policy Research Project

Creating a Model Youth Development Program

Section Description

The proposed project focuses on program design and implementation. The policy research team will assist the staff of the Austin Learning Academy (ALA) update its College and Career Prep program (CCP). The goal of CCP is to increase community support and opportunities for young teens. CCP is part of a continuum of family learning activities — early childhood through technology for seniors — which ALA has provided in the Austin community since 1988.

CCP focuses on family members entering and moving through middle school — the adolescent years. Adolescence is a critical development and transition period. ALA helps families help their young teens with three kinds of learning: learning to be more productive (in school and the community); learning to connect (with others through healthy family and social relationships); and, learning to navigate the often tricky path to and through college.

The proposed PRP builds on the work and recommendations of a previous research team. That research team provides the basis for the proposed work. It completed an extensive review of the literature on empirically grounded theory and ‘best practice’ in prevention and intervention programs for youth. It also developed an ‘ideal type’ program framework for the ALA staff. The framework — community action and capacity building — will be the core of ALA’s redesigned College and Career Prep program.